Collide
by Nimaranel
Summary: Two lives collide together. A series of moments in a love that never could be. RumilxOC Set after the War of the Ring.


**Collide**

**Summary: **It's hard to say when you'll meet someone who you'll know for life. Two lives intertwined together through years.

_Disclaimer_: I own Merileth. Others belong to Tolkien.

_I: dance_

It was a simple dance he asked for as he led the woman to the floor. She moved with grace that seemed so well learned, especially for a human. Rumil had known many in his time yet it was this woman's smile that warmed him from the fingers he grasped so delicately in his own to the toes that led them through the motions of the dance. She's of no nobility, a simple Healer, and perhaps that's what had drawn him to her that night. There was no air of highness to her, just a simple woman who made her life the best she could with what she had.

"Pray, what is your name, my Lord, so I may know you if you ever return to the White City," She asked in a merry tone, though it is hinted with sadness as the dance ends and the festivities come to a slow halt all around them.

He took a moment before replying, "Rumil. Perhaps I may know yours as well, Miss?"

"Merileth," She replied easily enough and, gently, she pulled her hands from his grasp, turning as she hurries to gather her younger brother and sister. There's a moment when she turned her head back, glancing to the elf, but he's already gone.

_II: her eyes_

Merileth knows they look upon him differently than they would anyone else. Few have seen the elves in their city since the Great War. The people around her look upon the male with uncertain eyes and wariness but she finds his gaze with a full smile across her lips, moving swiftly across the square to greet him. "I wasn't expecting to see you again within our city walls so soon," She speaks cheerily, though there is a veiled gloom behind her eyes, for there have been whispers on the air, voices speaking of a great war in the West.

"You do not fear me like the others?" He murmurs when she's close enough to hear, his gaze narrowed at a pair by a market stall across from them. "I can see their eyes on me. They look at me like…" He trails off, shaking his head.

"I know that I have nothing to fear from a noble…elf like you." She pauses in the middle for only a moment but he sees the genuine truth in her eyes. "I must go home soon, they'll be expecting me." Who's expecting her, he doesn't know but she turns to meet his gaze, capturing him in her light blue eyes. "If you have the time, would you walk with me?"

He walks with her, bending his head as she speaks of many things, most of them seemingly unimportant to anyone who listens. Rumil casts his eyes upon her home when they reach it; it's nothing important or held in high regard. He can't figure how these humans can live in the confines of such a place but, when stepping inside, he can feel the change in energy. There is laughter among her younger siblings as she 

puts them to work to ready dinner for themselves and, hopefully, their guest. The invitation is accepted and she smiles at him once more.

He doesn't eat much, trying everything he's given, quietly telling a few stories that keep the little ones on the edge of their seats. Merileth sets chores for all of them again as they clean up and then it's off to bed for the littlest of them. He catches sight of her down the hall, tucking in the two young girls, pressing kisses to their foreheads before she closes the door behind her. She reaches out, taking his hand silently in her own, leading him out of the home and out into the garden she's kept behind the house.

"I know my siblings can be a bit much to handle, I hope you haven't been scared off," She jokes lightly. Her hand still holds his but he doesn't seem to mind so she doesn't let go.

"No, they were fine." It's puzzling to him as he looks over her face. She's so human, hardly anything compared to the elvish beauties he has seen in the woods of Lothlorien and among the trees of Eryn Silivren. Yet her eyes seem to capture him, drawing him inwards until he can't breathe any longer without seeing her face for a little longer. His free hand reaches out, tucking a strand of loose dark brown hair behind her ear. The gesture is tender and Merileth is surprised.

There's nothing to be said as they stand out in the evening, contented to be among the company of the other.

_III: spinning_

Faster and faster the world seems to spin out of control. News of attacks are coming daily now and it's all Merileth can do to pray to the Valar that war shall not reach the gates of the city. Bellion is only fourteen, too young in her eyes to go off to war yet she knows he yearns for battle, for the glory of it all. There's no way she can stand to think her brother would leave her, but she knows it's a choice he will end up making regardless of what she says or asks of him.

She reaches out blindly in the dark, trying to find the answers, left with nothing but the haunting of a face many miles away. Under the same canopy of stars, he thinks of her, wishing that he had a reason to go back, afraid that he never will.

_IV: proposal_

"They say we go to war," Merileth is trying not to break down as she stands firmly before one of her dearest friends. "They say we're to fight among the sands." There's a pause. "Please, tell me that's not true." She's pleading with him, hoping he will lie to her. But she knows better than that.

Turgol does not lie. He takes her hands in his. "I'm going to fight. If Bellion goes, I will do my best to look after him." He touches her cheek and she closes her eyes. "When I return…will I be returning for a reason?" He's looking for a reason to return and she opens her eyes again. She could refuse his offer, tell him that they could only be friends, and perhaps he should find someone more fitting to love. Yet she cannot.

"Yes," She whispers and when he kisses her, a face that's not his flashes through her mind.

_V: quiet before the storm_

Turgol left weeks ago, on a mission to scout the land ahead before the great army of the West is sent forth. Merileth wears the ring he left with her around her neck, toying with it when she finds herself nervous. She has a lot of nervous energy at the moment, trying too hard to keep it contained. They say that the armies from the different nations will be there soon and she's holding her breath, hoping to see his face among them. It's too much to hope for though, to think that he may still have the same feelings she had seen in his eyes months ago, but it's this hope she clings to.

"Merileth," Rumil says her name when they meet at last and her heart skips a beat. They find a moment alone, his hand touching her face before she throws her arms around him, falling into a warm embrace. He stiffens for only a moment before his arms wrap around her, cradling her close, breathing in the scent of flowers and herbs that cling to her from the day.

It's unspoken, this feeling between them. They part after a short amount of time, both with their duties to perform before the dawn breaks the next morning. The men will be stationed in the city for a fortnight before they must leave their homes behind to fight in a foreign land.

"I ask nothing of you," She whispers the next night as she slips into his room. Their foreheads touch, his hands weaving through her curls before his lips dip down to press against hers. The kiss is slow, tender, uncertain before it breaks into something new, hot and completely dangerous. Merileth's head spins and Rumil's heart soars.

They lie together that night, simply content to be with her head resting upon his chest, her body curled into his as they speak of things that matter and things that don't. They knew they have precious time before she must go and even more so, they only have so long before they must say goodbye once more, perhaps for good.

_VI: secrets_

He keeps secrets locked away inside, afraid to share them even when she tries to coax them out. She does the same, guarding some of her most closely kept ideas and memories hidden from their conversations that early into the mornings.

Her father drinks heavily, never appearing from his room, burdening his daughter with raising her siblings and leaving her with shame at having such a father. He used to be a great man, brought down by sorrow and weighed by ghosts that never left his mind. Merileth hides her engagement as well, afraid of what might happen when Rumil knows, if he will refuse to see her, to touch her, or kiss her as he has numerous times in the dark of the night.

Rumil is afraid of death, afraid to die alone in the heat of battle. But most of all, he fears what he feels for this small, fragile human whose life will end long before his will. He looks in her eyes and wishes for eternity but he knows that it will not be so. Her life will end and his will go on for thousands of years more before he will pass on into the West. He fears letting her go while he fears keeping her close and the war inside his heart is one that he cannot let her know of, not when the end seems to near for them both.

_VII: rose_

"Did you know your name means 'rose' in Elvish?"

"It does, doesn't it?" She plucks a rose deftly from the garden, tucking it behind her ear and laughing. The sunlight catches her smile and, for the hundredth time since he has come to the city, Rumil finds a smile working its way across his face.

_VIII: vulnerable_

"You're leaving tomorrow," She whispers as they lie together in her small bed, their two bodies curled into one another's as they try to fight the dawn that's going to come sooner than either of them would like. "I wish you didn't have to."

"I gladly go fight in the name of the King and for all here," He murmurs, a frown creasing his perfect face. She props herself onto her elbow, touching his jaw, tracing down it with her fingers before kissing him. She's so afraid and he can taste the fear in the kiss, her need for him to stay safe, and her love that's grown for him.

"I think I could be in love with you," Merileth is left bare and vulnerable with these words leaving her lips. He doesn't say anything, instead resting his head against her chest, listening to the gentle, steady rhythm of her heartbeat beneath his ear.

She watches him rise just as the sun begins to peak into her room. He stands at the window, gazing out at the city. She comes to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing herself into his back. He sighs, utterly defeated, whispering softly. "I think I could be in love with you too."

_IX: without_

Without him, her world is grey and lifeless. She moves through the world like a ghost, doing what she can but her eyes continually float out away from the city where they had seen the men marching off to battle. She wishes he would return, wants to see his face, and hopes that she will see him alive again at least one more time.

The sands leave him feeling parched and, among the streaks of heat, he sometimes thinks he can see her out among the sands. Yet he knows she's not there and treks forwards, fighting his way to a foreign city where an enemy sits upon the throne. For her, he will fight, if only to keep his fragile love alive.

_X: attack of the city_

The White City cannot brace itself for the attack. They cry out, rushing to the top as the enemy beats down the gates of the great city of Men. Merileth holds her sisters close to her as the tiers of the city fall until there are only three of them left.

"We will not go down without a fight!" She cries out, her voice trembling as she takes a sword from a dead soldier's body. "We will not die with our backs to the walls like cowards. We will fight and die with honor!" She sounds braver in that moment than she feels. Only minutes later she excuses herself, stepping out of the Houses of Healing, leaning her head against a wall as she attempts to fight nausea.

Word has reached the king that his city is under siege and the legions of the West hurry back, praying that they won't be too late to save their loved ones. His heart beats in his chest, urging his steed on, her face just before his eyes as he rides like his life depends on it.

_XI: life_

Her body hurts, the city is in shambles, but they did it. They survived. There's no time to stop as she hurries among the wounded, treating as many as she can. The world spins before her eyes; she looks a mess with her face smeared with dirty, circles beneath her eyes, and her hands caked with dried blood from the wounds she's sewn up and attended to through the longest night of her life. The world spins beneath her feet again as she stumbles, pressing her palm against the nearest wall as she fights off the weariness that she feels all through her body and soul.

"Merileth," He whispers and she turns her head up. There are not words to convey her emotions as everything flies out the door. She takes two steps towards him before her legs give way. His arms catch her, easing her down to the ground as she wraps her arms around him, weeping into his shoulder openly, blubbering as he holds her close, clinging to her for dear life.

"You're alive," She bawls. "You're alive!" Her lips find his as she kisses him fiercely.

_XII: reality_

They both know it won't work. He has a life to go back to and hers is just starting. She shares his bed one more night as they love one another to their fullest. With every touch and gasp, they share their love and lie together as long as they can, staying awake as they fight the dawn one last time.

Rumil returns with his brothers the day that Merileth marries Turgol. They both return to the real world they've come from, yet their minds remain on one another even after they've accepted the fact that they need to move on.

_XIII: moments_

There are some years that he chooses to visit the White City with the others. Sometimes he finds her, though he never comes out to speak to her any longer. She's a Lady now with proper station the first time he sees her, her arm linked with her husband's and giving him a radiant smile. The second time he spies her across the market place. Her belly swells with life and she simply glows. The third time she's with two small children in the Queen's gardens, her head tilted to the sun before she looks down to brush her fingers against a rose bush.

The final time, she sees him across the room and smiles at him, a bittersweet and sad smile of times that have passed and that can't ever be again.

_XIV: generation_

It's been over a hundred years since he's brought it upon himself to visit the White City again. Everything seems the same and he comes to greet the newly crowned King Eldarion. He searches for her face, knowing he will never find it. She died many years ago, that he knows for her received news of her passing from the King himself when he passed through their woods on one of his trips.

A girl stares at him openly across the market, yet not with the same wary gazes of others. She's unafraid when she approaches him, tilting her head to the side, her light blue eyes shockingly familiar. "You're an Elf," She speaks frankly, a smile lighting up her features. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"How do you know?" He's curious as he gazes at the teenager.

"My grandmother told me about the elves and how she once was a good friend of one."

"What was her name?"

"Lady Merileth."

_XVI: drifting_

He dreams of her. She reaches her hand out to him, laughing, calling him to follow her. He can't say no as he takes her hand, following her down the light and through the stars themselves. She kisses him and in the dream he knows that he still loves her. His heart doesn't sing for another and, when he wakes, he mourns the loss of the light he once held within his arms.

She was his fragile love, now lost to the sands of time, only a memory within his mind now. There are no tears but each morning he stares out at the sunrise, a sad smile on his lips as he recalls days long past from him.

**_Fin_**


End file.
